It’s that time again, folks! We’ve teamed with the SMB Technology Network trade group to undertake the well-received SMB 150 list project. Last year, quite frankly, we were OVERWHELMED by the response, excitement and enthusiasm!

This year the SMB 150 program has some exciting improvements:

•    Nominations accepted! Click HERE to nominate yourself or a like-minded accomplished SMB IT leader. You know how you are; you know who they are! Just do it!
•    Voting. In early 2012,

[Read the rest of this article...]

Yesterday, leading provider of disaster recovery, backup and data protection solutions, StorageCraft Technology Corporation announced that it has elevated to the Elite level in VMWare’s Technology Alliance Partner Program. This new status will allow StorageCraft to deepen its relationship with VMware, and accelerate the integration of their products into VMware’s environment.

The VMware Technology Alliance Partner Program, or TAP, is a global program of over 2,000 “best-of-breed” technology members. TAP allows partners to offer joint solutions with VMware to their mutual customers. VMware provides marketing and technical tools, as well as industry expertise to help partner companies offer top quality solutions to customers.

Curt James, VP of Marketing and Business Development for StorageCraft, spoke a bit in a press release yesterday. “We’re happy to officially be part of VMware’s TAP program at the Elite level, as we’ve enjoyed a mutually productive working relationship for some time now,” he said “The additional tools, benefits and support of an Elite level membership and our association with VMware gives us a great advantage in continuing to deliver best-in-class virtual solutions for our users.”

StorageCraft will be offering the

[Read the rest of this article...]

Adobe is currently looking for Senior Computer Scientists to join their Digital Publishing Services team. Individuals would have the opportunity to work Adobe’s Digital Publishing Suite, designed to help publishers, media agencies and designers create applications on tablet devices.

Duties for this position will include: providing feature development, bug testing/fixes and unit testing.

The ideal candidate for this position will have:
•    A Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science (or equivalent), though a Master’s degree is preferred.
•    Strong fundamental Computer Science skills
•    At least 8 years of experience in the software development field.
•    Prior experience with AWS, Java, REST, Spring, XML, Apache Tomcat, SQL and J2EE
•    Good collaboration skills
•    Strong programming and problem solving skills
•    Familiarity with HTML, Java, HTTP, Perl and UNIX shell scripting.
•    Desire to work with some of the top engineers in the field and grow to full potential

If you are interested in learning more about this position, or to submit your resume, please contact:
Michelle Dalton
Senior Engineering Manager of DPS Publishing and Content Services
mdalton(at)adobe(dot)com

[Read the rest of this article...]

Congratulations to Jim Sterling of Sterling Networks for being the first winner of a BlackBerry PlayBook!

Jim’s name was randomly selected from a list of SMB Top 150 nominees submitted between 10am Jan 24, and 8am Jan 27, 2012.

The prize for all nominees submitted between noon today, Jan 27 and 8am Wednesday, February 1 is a FREE Square card reader! You can nominate your SMB Hero for our SMB Top 150 Influencer Awards here.  Nominations will be open until late February, with a voting stage to follow.

[Read the rest of this article...]

Teo earlier this week announced immediate availability of Teo UC 4, the latest version of its UC platform. Teo UC 4 includes more than 200 enhancements and several new features for both end users and administrators serving SMBs.
 
“Unlike other UC companies who are encumbered by their legacy technology and complex infrastructures, Teo is extremely nimble, allowing us to innovate quickly based on customer demand,” Thomas Beck, Teo’s director of business development and marketing, said in a press release. “The upgrades included in Teo 4 were designed to further take the complexity out of UC and provide the industry’s only truly unified communications solution – from both an end user and administrator perspective.”
 

[Read the rest of this article...]

By Joseph Walker, Contributing Writer

For those of you interested in a cloud-based digital asset management service, take a look at WebDAM.  WebDAM is a cloud-based SaaS solution that offers a comprehensive set of management tools, including general organization, storage, metadata tagging, search, sharing, and distribution.
WebDAM packs a powerful set of features, but my chief reason for recommending it is the release of its new API. 

The more time I spend in the cloud, the more I’ve come to realize that an API rollout is a major milestone in the lifecycle of a cloud computing company.  It almost always means the company is on strong enough financial (and personnel) footing to support continued growth—or even major expansion.

Several major corporations currently use WebDAM’s API.  As far as I can tell, it offers developers a tremendous amount of flexibility.  Silicon Valley gurus have already concocted a way to enable

[Read the rest of this article...]

By Joseph Walker, Contributing Writer

HP has finalized its plans for the open source release of webOS. While developers are eager to get their hands on the webOS source code, the announcement isn’t a dream control. HP has decided to deliver its now defunct smartphone platform in bite-size pieces (as opposed to all at once).

(At right): Astro Brelsford, SMB Nation's official mascot, with Harrybbb's HP TouchPad.

According to HP’s Open webOS roadmap, individual code modules will be released on a quasi-monthly schedule between now and September. The first piece HP has made available is Enyo 2.0, which provides the framework necessary for coders to write new mobile and web apps. The Enyo toolset includes webOS support but also enables development of iOS, Android, Firefox, and Internet Explorer apps.

[Read the rest of this article...]

Service contract management provider MaintenanceNet Inc. said that it has high expectations for 2012 with growth forecasted to exceed that of 2011 to drive the company’s global success into the new year.
 
MaintenanceNet also reported a 50 percent increase in revenue in 2011, as well as significant new customer agreements. The company attributes its continued momentum to maturation of the service revenue automation market as manufacturers and channel organizations recognize the importance of addressing the complete spectrum of service contract opportunities available to them.

“We’ve evangelized this market since 2004, and in 2011 saw a paradigm shift take place to fuel fast-paced growth and adoption of our service revenue automation products around the globe,” Scott Herron, CEO of MaintenanceNet, said in a press release. “Manufacturers and channel leaders have come to realize that managing their low-dollar, high-volume service renewal businesses with human resources alone can be costly, and they’re turning to automation to get the job done quickly and efficiently.”

[Read the rest of this article...]

Yesterday, the IT Management division of ZOHO Software, ManageEngine, announced that their network monitoring software, MSP Center Plus, will now integrate with Zoho Reports, Zoho Software’s cloud-based service. This latest integration will allow MSPs to better organize data and reporting for their customers’ networks.

Zoho Reports on the ManageEngine platform has a tidy data monitoring UI based on a spreadsheet model. Users are also able to embed reports into websites or other applications, and write queries can be written in any syntax or dialect. MSPs that require a high degree of customization for their customers will now be able to create reports via a “drag-and-drop” system, reducing the amount of time spent on building custom reports. This suite also comes with 60 premade reports and 6 premade dashboard views. Reports can be presented in pie chart, bar graph, tabular or pivot table view. Users can collaborate on the reports on the cloud-based system, all while keeping data safe. 

MSP Center Plus Product Manager at ManageEngine, Dev Anand, spoke a bit on the news yesterday:

[Read the rest of this article...]

Yesterday, PC Wholesale, a division of SYNNEX, released news that they will now be an authorized distributor of the HP Renew Program, an offering that will allow PC Wholesale’s customers access to refurbished HP ProLiant servers, networking products, all equipped with the HP “same-as-new” warranty.  

The HP Renew Program is designed to help businesses attain quality equipment without straining their budgets. HP Renew products are subjected to an intensive refurbishment process to ensure their quality. In addition, most HP Renew offerings are from customer returns and the HP Demo Program, and are less than a year old.  Authorized partners such as PC Wholesale will have access to PartnerONE credit for their parts.  

Peter Larocque, President of US Distribution for SYNNEX, is pleased with the authorization. “Our commitment to HP and to our channel partners is evident with PC Wholesale’s ability to offer alternatives to stretch strained IT budgets by offering quality and warranty-backed HP refurbished equipment,” he said in a press release yesterday.

PC Wholesale and SYNNEX partners will now be able to have 

[Read the rest of this article...]